Brazilian guitarist and composer Satiro Bilhar (185?-1926) was highly regarded among his peers. Two of the most prominent Brazilian composers dedicated works to him: Villa-Lobos (“Fugue” of his “Bachianas Brasileiras n. 1”), and Ernesto Nazareth (“Tenebroso,” for piano). Satiro left us only one composition, “Tira Poeira,” nowadays a standard in the choro repertoire. Available sources indicate that he used to perform a sort of a “Harp Étude,” emulating the effect of that instrument, but it was probably never written down and has unfortunately been lost since then. Thus, paying homage to this iconic figure, the present piece was constructed as an imagined version of the mentioned “Harp Étude,” where the theme of “Tira Poeira” is intertwined with an arpeggio texture. Also, it features disguised quotations of motifs from both “Tenebroso” and the “Fugue” of “Bachianas Brasileiras n. 1,” as well as from the modinha “Gosto de ti porque gosto,” which has been attributed to Bilhar.
This piece is dedicated to Sérgio Assad, a major reference for all of us as a guitarist, composer and arranger, who had his musical upbringing in the choro tradition.
